50 Fun Facts About Phobia

Arachnophobia is the fear of which creatures?

It is among the most common phobias, affecting an estimated 3.5 to 6.1% of people, and it lent its name to a 1990 Steven Spielberg-produced 'thrill-omedy'.

Acrophobia is the fear of what?

Along with spiders and snakes, it is one of the three most common specific phobias.

Coulrophobia is the fear of what?

The word only appeared in the late 1980s or 1990s; a 2022 study found 54% of respondents felt at least some degree of it.

The 'coulro-' in coulrophobia comes from a Greek word meaning what?

Ancient Greek had no clowns as such, so the coiners borrowed kolobathristes; Oxford Dictionaries only added the word in 2010.

Someone with claustrophobia fears what?

The word comes from the Latin claustrum, 'a shut-in place'; crowded lifts and MRI scanners are classic triggers.

Agoraphobia takes its name from the Greek word for what?

German psychologist Carl Westphal named it in 1871; it affects about 1.7% of adults, women twice as often as men.

Which condition is described by the word glossophobia?

Glossa is Greek for tongue; one US university study found 64% of students admitted to the fear.

Triskaidekaphobia is the fear of which number?

A 2002 Otis Elevator review found 85% of its tall buildings had no floor labelled 13; the fear of Friday the 13th is paraskevidekatriaphobia.

Tetraphobia, common in East Asia, is the fear of which number?

In several East Asian languages the word for four sounds like the word for death.

Trypophobia is an aversion to what?

Lotus seed pods and honeycomb are classic triggers; the word was coined on an internet forum in 2005 and is not in the DSM-5.

Nomophobia, first named in a 2008 UK survey, is the fear of what?

It is a squashed form of 'no mobile phone phobia'; the Post Office study found 53% of users got anxious when their phone died or lost signal.

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is the tongue-in-cheek name for the fear of what?

It is built from Horace's phrase sesquipedalia verba, 'words a foot and a half long', with hippopotamus and monster bolted on for effect.

Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of what?

The name borrows arachis, the Latin genus name for the peanut, and butyrum, Latin for butter.

Which phobia is the fear of beards?

Pogon is Greek for beard; genuphobia, by contrast, is the fear of knees.

Ophidiophobia is the fear of which animals?

About a third of adults report it, and Indiana Jones is the fictional world's best-known sufferer.

Cynophobia is the fear of which animals?

The word shares its root with 'canine' via Greek kyon; the fear of cats is ailurophobia.

Musophobia is the fear of what?

Mus is Latin for mouse; entomophobia is the equivalent fear of insects.

Which phobia is the fear of the sea or of being in the ocean?

Thalassa is Greek for sea; hydrophobia is an old name for rabies rather than a simple fear of water.

Nyctophobia is a severe fear of what?

Fear of the dark rarely appears before age two and peaks around age four; nyx is Greek for night.

Emetophobia is the fear of what?

The root is the same Greek word behind 'emetic', a substance that makes you sick.

Mysophobia is the fear of what?

Mysos is Greek for uncleanness; sufferers are sometimes described as germophobes.

Gephyrophobia is the fear of crossing what?

Some long US bridges offer a driver service for sufferers; gephyra is Greek for bridge.

Which phobia is the fear of buttons on clothing?

Koumpi is modern Greek for button; Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is often cited as a sufferer.

Anatidaephobia, the 'fear that somewhere a duck is watching you', comes from where?

It is a joke phobia, though Anatidae really is the family name of ducks, geese and swans.

Which fear is described by phasmophobia?

Phasma is Greek for apparition; the word also gave its name to a popular co-op horror video game.

Ergophobia is the fear of what?

The same Greek root, ergon, gives us 'ergonomics' and the energy unit 'erg'.

Which condition is described by phobophobia?

Franklin Roosevelt's 'the only thing we have to fear is fear itself' is its unofficial motto.

Globophobia is the fear of what?

The fear of the popping sound is usually the real trigger; Oprah Winfrey has spoken about having it.

Which phobia is the fear of trains and railways?

It literally means 'fear of iron roads', from the Greek sideros (iron) and dromos (course).

Alektorophobia is the fear of which farm animals?

Alektor is Greek for rooster; sufferers can react to feathers and eggs as well as live birds.

The word phobia comes from Phobos, a Greek deity who personified fear. Whose son was he?

He and his brother Deimos rode into battle with their father, the god of war, and both now name the two moons of Mars.

According to Wikipedia's summary of the research, which three phobias are the most common?

Specific phobias affect about 6-8% of people in Western countries each year and usually begin between the ages of 10 and 17.

The DSM-5's five specific phobia subtypes are animal, natural environment, situational, other, and what?

That category is unusual because it can make sufferers faint rather than flee.

Why does the injury-and-needle category of phobia often cause fainting when other phobias do not?

The treatment of choice, 'applied tension', has patients clench their muscles to keep blood pressure up.

Roughly what share of American adults are estimated to have some fear of needles?

Among children the figure rose from 25% in 1995 to 65% in 2012, and severe cases lead people to avoid vaccines and blood tests.

Which is the recommended first-line treatment for specific phobias?

The person is introduced to the feared object or situation, gradually or all at once, until the fear fades.

Which psychiatrist developed systematic desensitisation for phobias in the 1950s?

Patients climb a 'fear hierarchy' while staying relaxed; Wolpe reported success 90% of the time.

In the 1920 Little Albert experiment, John B. Watson conditioned a baby to fear which animal?

The fear spread to a rabbit, a fur coat and a Santa Claus mask; the study would be forbidden under modern ethics rules.

How did Watson and Rayner produce the frightening noise in the Little Albert experiment?

The work was done at Johns Hopkins University and published in February 1920.

Which Hitchcock film stars James Stewart as a detective crippled by acrophobia?

Its dizzying dolly-zoom shot became known as the 'Vertigo effect', and in 2012 Sight & Sound named it the greatest film ever made.

Hitchcock's The Birds, a nightmare for anyone with ornithophobia, was based on a story by which author?

The 1963 film has no musical score, only electronic bird sounds, and star Tippi Hedren was cut by glass when live birds replaced mechanical ones.

The 1990 film Arachnophobia was the directing debut of which long-time Spielberg producer?

Marketed as a 'thrill-omedy', it starred Jeff Daniels and John Goodman and grossed $53 million in the US.

Which 1986 Stephen King novel did most to establish the evil-clown archetype behind modern coulrophobia?

Pennywise the Dancing Clown joined a lineage that includes the Joker (1940) and real-life killer John Wayne Gacy, who performed as Pogo.

Which of these famous people is listed as having a fear of flying?

Footballer Dennis Bergkamp and ABBA's Agnetha Fältskog are also on the list; estimates of the phobia's prevalence range from 2.5% to 40%.

Roughly how many extra road deaths followed Americans driving instead of flying after 9/11?

The figure is often quoted to show that avoiding a feared activity can be riskier than the activity itself.

Roughly what share of the world's population is estimated to suffer severe claustrophobia?

Only a small fraction seek treatment, even though in-vivo exposure therapy cuts the fear by around 75%.

For a fear to be classed as a phobia, it is usually present for longer than how long?

Phobias bring a rapid onset of fear and avoidance out of proportion to the actual danger.

Women are affected by phobias roughly how many times as often as men?

Typical onset is between ages 10 and 17, and rates fall with increasing age.

Which almond-shaped brain structure processes fear and is linked to social phobia?

The medial prefrontal cortex is active during the extinction of fear and can inhibit the amygdala's reaction.

Which psychologist proposed three pathways to phobias: conditioning, vicarious and informational?

Social anxiety disorder and agoraphobia are thought to have roughly 50% heritability, with environment covering the rest.